As the tech world grows from strength to strength, some jobs become outdated while others are created. As long as you’re the type of person who can pick up skills and adapt to this changing world, the tech industry will have something for you to do. One popular role that’s gaining steady steam is that of a Business Intelligence Analyst.
HiCounselor has put together this short guide to help you decide if you’d like to become a Business Intelligence Analyst. If you’d like more help figuring out your career path, contact us and have a chat with one of our mentors.
What’s Business Intelligence Analysis?
Business Intelligence, also known simply as BI, is a rather broad term that encompasses several smaller factors within it. Organizations need to make informed decisions to ensure continued success and growth. To do this, they collect historical and current data in large amounts.
Data mining, data storing, data visualization, infrastructure, and best practices are used to help an enterprise make the best moves. These should aim to eliminate inefficiencies, increase profitability, bring welcome changes, and adapt to any market fluctuations.
What’s the Role of a Business Intelligence Analyst?
A BI Analyst will collect and analyze data as well as other information to help top management make the wisest decisions for the company. They collect, clean, and process information on sales, customer behavior, revenue, markets and other metrics to get the most accurate results.
Business Intelligence Analysts often program tools and create data models to help others understand the information more easily. They search for patterns to seek areas of improvement, whether those patterns are of the company or of the market.
Does BI Analysis have Long-term Job Security?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), BI Analysts (also called Management Analysts) will see a projected job growth of 14% from 2020 to 2030. This is much faster than the average job growth. An estimated 99,400 job openings are expected for each year of the decade.
Since this is a fairly important role, the compensation too is at the higher end, with Business Intelligence Analysts median pay being around US$87,660 per year or US$42.14 per hour in May 2020. As with any other role, the salary can be more or less depending upon your skills and qualifications.
What Skills are Required for Business Intelligence Analysis?
There are many soft skills that can help a BI Analyst level up their career, like communication skills, active listening, critical thinking, attention to detail, etc. Apart from those, there are some technical skills you must have:
Coding Languages – When you have to analyze large amounts of data, you might have to create systems and processes to help you monitor and analyze key sections of the company. That’s why it’s important to know some coding languages.
Database Tools – To be an effective Business Intelligence Analyst, you must know how to utilize common data tools like Excel and SQL. Machine Learning tools are also becoming a big part of data analysis as they help create positive solutions.
Data Visualization – If you go through any of the job listings for Business Intelligence Analysts, you’ll see they usually want someone who knows how to use Tableau and Power BI. This is because these tools are essential to create graphs and visualizations for easy interpretation of data.
Business/Market Practices – In order to help increase profitability and reduce wastage, you should know how markets and companies use their resources. Some knowledge of finances and trends can help you give better insights, which in turn is great for your career.
How to Become a Business Intelligence Analyst?
As with most roles in the tech field, there are multiple ways to become a Management Analyst. You can choose one according to the amount of time you can devote to the course.
Professional Certifications – You can opt for in-class or online certificate courses. Usually, these don’t require any previous knowledge of the subject and you can choose the timings according to your convenience. They are a good way to familiarize yourself with the basics of Business Intelligence Analysis.
Bachelor’s Degree – If you have the time to pursue the subject matter in-depth from the start, you can get a Bachelor’s degree in Business Intelligence Analysis. This can take anywhere from 3 to 5 years. You can focus on fields like Finance, Data Science, Math, etc. to really hone your skills.
Master’s Degree – If you have previous knowledge of the subject and want to build on that to help you secure a BI Analyst role, you can pursue a Master’s degree to give yourself an edge over your competitors in the job market. These courses will take you in-depth into subjects like Data Science, which is really beneficial in the long run.
We hope this article has cleared up some of your doubts and confusion about being a Business Intelligence Analyst! If you need more help in getting your career on the right track, contact HiCounselor and let our mentors guide you.
HiCounselor has forged technical advances to transform the hiring landscape for job seekers and recruiters alike. Our career accelerator program provides job seekers with coaching and mentorship from industry leaders employed at FAANG companies while recruiters ally with HiCounselor to empower their hiring strategy and hone in on the best candidates. Learn more about HiCounselor here and reach out to us on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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